Harvest! The culmination of a year's worth of work and anticipation

The harvest is going on night and day for about a month. Last year was the first mechanical harvest, with "try it out" equipment and very limited scope. I'm just remembering a day or two.

When all the trees are producing, it is estimated that these harvesters be operating for 70 days, 24 hours a day. 

This year, there are three behemoth harvesters that drive right over the trees, snarfing up the olives and leaving the leaves and branches pretty much intact. Olives go through the tall arm into a bin (metal with green framing) driven in the adjacent row. When this container is full, it dumps the fruit into larger trailers parked along the road.

A few of the small end trees suffered as drivers learned how to maneuver the harvesters.

  Overhead shot of a bin just beginning to fill up.

Truckloads of olives come first to the reception building where the load is weighed and data is collected. Then the olives are dumped into a chute to the basement where the fruit begins the process of becoming olive oil.

We have heard different reports about the harvest, but so far it looks wildly successful. Anywhere from 1/3 more than expected to four times the expectation. The workers are exhausted, the wives are weary (we've done guard-dog duty staying overnight at homes where hubby wasn't home) and the lights don't seem to go out in the fields or the mill; but after this week it should be done. It's 11:30 at night and I just heard another truck rumbling by. Thrilling!